Is that not just pure comedy gold? I note, however, that a more cynical attitude towards the Live Earth concerts has begun creeping into even TASS er, CNN reporting.

Critics say Live Earth lacks achievable goals, and that bringing in jet-setting rock stars in fuel-guzzling airliners to plug in amplifier stacks and cranking up the sound may send mixed messages about energy conservation.

"The last thing the planet needs is a rock concert," The Who's singer Roger Daltrey recently told a British newspaper.

Organizers say the concerts will be as green as possible, with a tally of energy use being kept. Proceeds from ticket sales will go toward distributing power-efficient light bulbs and other measures that will offset the shows' greenhouse gas emissions, they say.

"This is going to be the greenest event of its kind, ever," Gore told The Associated Press recently. "The carbon offsets and the innovative practices that are being used to make this a green event, I think, will set the standard for years to come."

...

In Johannesburg, four-time Grammy nominee Angelique Kidjo offered a tart response to Daltrey's comment. "Criticism is easy," she said during a news conference Friday that involved performers in the local concert. "And there is a kind of fashion of cynical people around us. You are cynical — what the hell are you doing to change the world? Get your butt out there. Do something."

And it is beyond time to do so, she explained.

Honey, according to your own beliefs about human effects on the climate, the best thing you could do for the planet would be to stay home and shut the hell up.

"Hope no one drops one of their Compact Fluorescents and spills the mercury inside..."

The phosphor lining is fairly hazardous too, as there are usually several slightly radioactive compounds in it as well. These aren't the light elements that are low powered and typically inert (like your tritium powered night sights, which are a mildly radioactive isotope of Hydrogen), but the heavy metal types that shrink your 'nads and give you cancer.

The ballast can be an issue too, though they are supposed to be solid-state, with no PCB oils in them, but most of these units are built (shocker) in China, famous for adding ethylene glycol to your toothpaste! Who knows what's going into them?

Finally, it is indisputable that the garden variety CFL is far more an energy hog to produce in the first place.

I've been experimenting with some CFL lamps in my house, and my own observations are leading me to a couple of conclusions: The first is that the more expensive branded units are far better in terms of service life. Don't believe for a minute that the store-branded ones will last you 15 years or whatever their claims are. The best I've done with one in continual burn is about 3 years. The second is that with multi-bulb fixtures, the parallel arrangement of the loads tends to reek havoc on the ballasts of the second or third bulb from impedence drop. The short of it is, they burn out quickly.

Most importantly, CFL lamps SUCK at color rendering, making everything look sick or artificial. Can't wait 'til they go the way of the Dodo bird.